Retail sales on stretch of Ventura Boulevard get caught in continuing recession gridlock.

Overbuilding, tough parking restrictions and a general downturn in consumer spending have made many retailers close up shop and created unprecedented vacancies in retail centers along San Fernando Valley's Ventura Boulevard from Studio City to Encino.

Some 15 percent to 25 percent of both new and old buildings along the boulevard are empty, according to leasing agents and tenants. Retail and real estate experts said on-street parking bans along parts of Ventura Boulevard, especially in Encino, make matters worse because shoppers who can't park near street-front stores often choose instead to drive to malls that offer customer parking.

Ventura Boulevard's retail problems are hard to quantify in dollars because sales tax revenues received from merchants throughout Los Angeles are lumped together. Nonetheless, signaling the downbeat state of retailing areawide, retail sales in Los Angeles County in December were down 7.3 percent to $6.4 billion compared to a year earlier, according to the U.S. Commerce Department.

Michael Lushing, vice president and retail agent with CB Commercial Real Estate Group Inc., said 1 million square feet or 15 percent of all the Ventura Boulevard shops between Topanga Canyon and Laurel Canyon are empty. "That's about four times the historical vacancy rate," Lushing said.

Studio City, Sherman Oaks and Encino collectively are suffering higher vacancies and lower retail sales than in years past, Lushing said.

"Studio City is unique among the three because it is busy 24 hours a day. Lots of entertainment people work and live there. Restaurants do particularly well. Jerry's Famous Deli has some of its highest sales hours between 10 p.m. and 3 a.m.," Lushing said.

San Antonio, Texas-based Bookstar opened its Studio City bookstore at 12160 Ventura Blvd. in late March and is getting its first read on the buying patterns of local bookworms. Bookstar's major competitor, Crown Books, also is looking for a site on Ventura Boulevard to open a branch to directly compete with Bookstar.

Nearby is Strouds, which reopened its Studio City bathroom and bedroom linens store in October 1991. Assistant Manager Mary Theresa said the shop has had erratic sales since it reopened in last October after being destroyed by fire in 1990. Theresa said she hopes business will pick up with Bookstar's arrival.

Other Ventura Boulevard shopkeepers don't share the success of Bookstar and Jerry's Famous Deli, noted Studio City Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Sondra Frohlich.

Bernward Thorsch, who has owned Studio City Camera on Ventura Boulevard for 47 years, said that while he is doing better than most neighboring shop owners, he admits sales have dropped in the past two years.

Robert Ellis owns an upscale women's store bearing his name at 12439 Ventura Blvd. He said he considers himself lucky to have plenty of parking behind his building and a recession-proof clientele.

"We've had our best year ever. We deal with a lot of customers in the entertainment industry, corporate executives," Ellis said. "Their clothes, their appearance is important to their career. They may not have traded in their Mercedes this year or moved into a larger home, but they are still buying clothes."

Ellis said he knows others aren't as fortunate. "Each year the Studio City merchants along Ventura Boulevard each write a $25 check to the chamber so the palm trees can get trimmed," Ellis said. "This year they sent my check back and said not enough merchants responded, that the trees wouldn't get trimmed. As a result, they are shedding, making a mess out of the sidewalks and making the area look unkempt."

Further west, CB Commercial's Lushing said, Ventura Boulevard retailers in Sherman Oaks face even tougher times. The neighborhood attracts residents who would like to live in West Los Angeles but can't afford it. They typically buy all the house they can afford in Sherman Oaks and don't have loads of discretionary income to spend along the boulevard, he noted.

"Three years ago, La Reina Plaza was the hottest retail center along Ventura Boulevard in Sherman Oaks. It was the first to get $3 per square foot per month in rents," Lushing said.

Owners promised tenants who leased second-floor space at La Reina Plaza that major restaurants would lure customers. But along Ventura Boulevard, as throughout Los Angeles, shoppers have demonstrated that they don't like to climb stairs to spend their money. Consequently, rents dropped to $1.75 per square foot a month. When rates drop, so does the value of the building because today's investor buys property based on its income, not its development or replacement cost, Lushing said.

The retail slump hasn't spared the malls. Sherman Oaks Galleria, at the intersection of the Sepulveda and Ventura boulevards, has seen some tenants move or go out of business in just the last few months. The 911,824-square-foot center, owned by Minneapolis-based Edward J. DeBartolo Corp., is anchored by May Co. and Robinsons.

Marketing Director Karalyn Lucci said sales for the 1991 Christmas season were slow but wouldn't release specific figures. "People didn't start buying until December and they were looking for sales," Lucci said.

West of the San Diego Freeway, Encino merchants give mixed reviews of the retail market. Gary Ross, co-owner of Raffles, an upscale men's and women's clothing store on Ventura Boulevard, said he hasn't been hurt by economic downturn or parking restrictions.

"Our customers are still spending money," Ross said. "Our problem is getting merchandise. You have to buy six months ahead of time and many times the clothing maker doesn't order cloth until it gets its order."

Nearby, Hal Alpert just moved his 25-year-old upscale women's clothing store, Jolie, from Tarzana to Ventura Boulevard. "Business has never been better. Recession, what recession?" Alpert asked.

Mike Radel, who has owned Adam's Restaurant on Ventura Boulevard for 12 years, doesn't share Ross' and Alpert's optimism.

"There are too many restaurants on Ventura Boulevard," Radel said. "I did a personal survey of the retail space along a 10-mile stretch of Ventura Boulevard between Sepulveda Boulevard and Topanga Canyon in Woodland Hills. Twenty to 25 percent of it was vacant."

Lushing of CB Commercial was equally as pessimistic about Encino's restaurant future.

"For the most part, Encino is a death trap for restaurants. The people who live and work there are value conscious. They eat at places like Tony Roma's and Marie Callender's," Lushing says.

But there is some good news. Lushing claimed monthly lease rates have dropped to $1.75 from $3 per square foot. At those rates, retailers with enough money to wait for continued improvement in consumer spending should be able to negotiate 10- or 15-year leases with no escalation clauses.

Those who do will have a much lower cost of doing business and have high profits when retail customers start spending freely, Lushing said.